


cheaply printed paperbacks

by WolffyLuna



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Gift Giving, M/M, Reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-08 02:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15921140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolffyLuna/pseuds/WolffyLuna
Summary: Sebastian gives Fenris a gift of books.





	cheaply printed paperbacks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Razzaroo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Razzaroo/gifts).



> I hope you like this!

The Sunday Lowtown markets started to wind down. Sebastian had come along with the Chantry, to help out their stall: handing out food the hungry, blankets to the cold, wisdom to the uncomforted. But having run out of everything but wisdom, he and the sisters started folding up the tables, bringing the shade cloth down.

“Do you need any help?”

Sister Frieda hoiked the shade cloth to a more comfortable position under her arm. “We’re good. Enjoy your afternoon off!”

So he wandered through the Lowtown markets. They’d brought stuffing as many stalls into the small space, and stuffing as many people in the even smaller spaces between the stalls, to a fine art. Even as the markets wrapped up, the crowd was thick and slow as honey.

He had plans to go to Hightown, to see Fenris, but there was no point rushing and trying to fight against the flow of people.

 The press of people took him past a bookstall. One of the ones that didn’t have the room to put books in rows, so piled them up in towering stacks. It was mostly magazines, periodicals, and whatever it was that Varric wrote. But there was a pile that caught his eye.

They were cheap little things, with covers made of the same paper as the pages, and bound with string and determination.

He picked one up experimentally. The cover was emblazoned with ‘THE ADVENTURE OF SAINT MORTIMER’ with a smudged single colour woodblock of a tired man holding a book. It was a small thing, only 50 or so pages long. He flicked through it. The text was simple and the sentences were short.

They may have been intended for children, but he imagined they would be appreciated by someone who had recently learned to read and maybe needed an easier palate cleanser in between reading a dense history book. Fenris read the same way a river eroded a bank: slowly, inevitably, and with impressive results if given some time. But even so, the Book of Shartan was not an _easy_ book, or one that you read quickly. 

He rifled through the rest of the stack – he was definitely going to get the Saint Mortimer one, even in a child friendly format, he was philosophically interesting. Fenris was cautiously-Andrastian at best, but he had a keen mind he liked to use.  He’d be the sort of person who’d manage to argue with himself over Mortimer, and enjoy the process. Saint Felicia was interesting that way too, and he found a book on her. Though how they were going to make the Battle of Iron Hills child friendly, Sebastian wasn’t sure). He picked up one on the stories behind the constellations as well, to avoid the selection being entirely saints.

The stallholder took his coin, and Sebastian headed up to Hightown.

Fenris answered his door.

“Do you mind if stay for a while?” Sebastian asked.

“Certainly, come in.”

Sebastian brushed his feet off on the rug (that hadn’t been replaced since Fenris has moved in, and was wearing thin). He hugged Fenris, taking care not to bump any of the tattoos. “I know Hawke has given you some books, but I thought you might like some variety. And maybe some that weren’t as thick as your arm.”

“That would be appreciated.” He took the offered books, and started reading their covers. “The Adventures of Saint Mortimer, The Stars and Their Stories, and The Adventures of Saint – Felicia?” He said it very carefully, trying out the pronunciation.

“Yes, that’s it.”

He glared at the cover. “One day I will defeat the letter ‘C’.”

“And it will rue the day it ever gave you trouble.”

Fenris huffed out a laugh. “Do you mind if I?--” He held up the books.

“I’d be happy to read with you. Or read along with you. Or—“

“Reading with me—I’d appreciate that,” Fenris said, before Sebastian’s words got out his control.

They sat on – the couch?—they sat together on the item of furniture Sebastian was reasonably sure was a couch and not a very elaborate padded table.

Fenris handed the Saint books to Sebastian, and started reading the one about astronomy.

Sebastian leafed through it, to show willing. It was difficult to read while Fenris was. He was still working on reading silently, and it was easy to be distracted by Fenris’ voice. Not that Sebastian minded. It was a nice voice. Especially when it was speaking softly as Fenris worked his way through a book. So Sebastian listened, and pretended to read.

After a few minutes, Fenris lifted his head. “M-O-S-Q-U-I-T-O?”

“Mosquito.”

There was pause. “ _Why_.” He said it with a vehemence rarely reserved for spelling.

“So no one reads it right on the first try?” Sebastian suggested.

Fenris turned back to his book. “It’s going on the list of things to defeat. Along with the letter C.”


End file.
